Front wheel came off car whilst driving…

Don't go round in circles on this it'll wheely do your nut in.

You didn't by the car of a junior colleague did you?..

Wife now doesn’t want the car even if it gets fixed.

That's entirely irrational.

After 500 miles good luck. When ever I've seen this occur from the garage it's been within the 50-100 mile range.

That said the wheel makes a royal ****ing racket before you get to that stage

So car has traveled 500miles if they were going to come loose would have happened a lot sooner ?

When tightening wheel nuts you do them as much as you can with the wheel off the floor then lower it, and finish them off. I may have forgotten the second step, on more than one occasion, and both times I've had to stop on the hard shoulder of the motorway about 2 miles away, due to the noise it made. So I reckon if it's done 500 miles since the work it's not the mechanic's fault.

But - stealing one alloy? Without it being jacked up?

Any time I've had a tyre fitted there has been a reminder on the invoice to check the wheel nuts after 100 miles or so.

Honestly thought this was going to be another Johnson thread

That’s entirely irrational.

Wife

End of lesson 😂

But – stealing one alloy? Without it being jacked up?

They’ll take the bolts out, then come back later to lift up and take wheel off.
If you are lucky they might use a jack

They’ll take the bolts out, then come back later to lift up and take wheel off.
If you are lucky they might use a jack

agreed i'd say thats a pretty viable set of events.

Someone curbed their equivalent and put the word out.

Have you told her she should have noticed when she was doing here predriving checks?

All the tire places/garages here have a disclaimer on their invoices and put the responsibility on the owner to come back for a lug nut torque check before 100kms.

I've had a rear wheel come off an MG Midget - we were working on the brakes, (front only) and neither my or my friend recall even trying the rear wheels, but we must have done.

But it came off, literally within 200 yards of driving off. And thats a low powered leightweight vehicle.

Had something similar on my T5 a few years back.
Luckily the locking wheelnut was the only one that was not loose, leading to conclusion that someone had a go at it

We were at a car show the other day that had some late eighties / early nineties classics.
Reminiscing about Peugeot 205 1.9 GTi’s having their spare wheels stolen from under the car and finding their way onto Mk4 escorts 🙄

I've had wheel nuts come loose when they've been done up pretty tight, but clearly not tight enough. Did about 100 miles on them. Even if it was the case here, they must have been torqued up pretty well to last that length of time.

As noted above, a lot of garages will ask you to check wheel nuts afterwards, as it is one of those things that can happen.

Had something similar on my T5 a few years back.
Luckily the locking wheelnut was the only one that was not loose, leading to conclusion that someone had a go at it

+1, on a Golf many moons ago. Wouldn't have made 500 yds let alone 500 miles. Just one wheel too, so could take a bolt off each of the rears to get to the garage for some spares.

I managed about 60 miles with loose nuts on my Transit, but the rating noise and it feeling like it had a puncture lead me to investigate.
50 miles I'd be blaming the garage, 500 probably not

It's not a coincidence that wheel has been off recently I'd bet money he forgot to tighten them up properly.

I did a front wheel to the first stage of just nipping them on my Nissan Prairie before dropping it and driving home. It made a proper racket 5 mins later.

I'm going with some scroaty **** having a puncture and trying to pinch yours instead. Do you live in scroatville?

I've had a wheel come loose once (my own carelessness..)
The racket and wobbling steering within a few miles was not something I'd continue driving with...
Was your wife wearing noise cancelling headphones and winter mittens?

Local garage didn’t tighten my front wheel enough on my van after changing the wheel bearing. I knew about it within 20 miles by the noise!

Another one who has forgotten to do the final nip up here...
Noticed in about 200 yrds. Skinned like the bearing had crapped out.
500 miles? It wasn't the mechanic dude, it's something else. Attempted theft seems to fit the bill.

i recon there's a chance that they weren't done up quite tight enough and today is the first time that they got hot enough to then start loosening off (combo of the weather and some hard braking perhaps?). Either way there's no chance of proving it so just get a new wing from the scrappy, let your wife walk for a couple of weeks and be done

It’s not a coincidence that wheel has been off recently I’d bet money he forgot to tighten them up properly.

We've narrowly avoided a wheel escaping the car from a mechanic failing to do their job in the past. Based on that one experience, 500 miles - no chance if they were not torqued up properly. I think we did about 15miles in an gutless normally aspirated small family hatch that couldn't punch its way out of a wet paper bag before the movement was noticeable.

I've had that twice.

First time on good old Hillman Imp. There was a bit of vibrating so I figures it was an angry bearing or kingpin. I drove homeward very carefully then suddenly the front left corner dropped and a wheel bounced over the hedge into the golf club. Luckily being drum braked the car just rumbled to a halt with no damage. I popped onto the 18th green picked up my wheel and shared out the wheel nuts.

Second time was road rallying in a mini. Driver said we had a flat. I said carry on, not far to go. Then a bump and a shower of sparks past my window. Car was spun to a halt in a handy cross roads. Disc and bottom ball joint wrecked.

Sadly I have to admit no-one else but me had been near the wheel nuts in either case.

Oh and I don't think you would get 500 miles before the wheel fell off.

It’s not a coincidence that wheel has been off recently I’d bet money he forgot to tighten them up properly.

500miles or stopping starting and turning... i'd bet money it wasn't the mechanic.

And genuinely OP your other half must have done some pretty hefty ignoring prior to the wheel falling off.

Reminds me of when we were kids and my dad showed up one day all triumphant with a shed of a used Mercedes. Us kids all excited pile onto the back seat to go for a ride. About ten minutes late one of us shouts "dad, the wheel's bouncing down the hill!"

A wheel had come off going round a roundabout and had bounced off down the slip road to the M6.

Thanks for replies

I drove the car yesterday and absolutely no noise etc.

500 miles over the last month of local driving/school runs etc.

Someone trying to steal the wheel is feasible I guess…

Wife now doesn’t want the car even if it gets fixed.

Has she been making any noises about a new car prior to this ?
Check the wheel brace for fingerprints 😉😂😂

Once caught some scrotes with a van half way through taking the wheels off my car.

They pissed off pretty sharpish once they noticed me. They'd already got the bolts off two wheels and were trying to get the lockers off when i walked down the hill. Thankfully all the bolts were distributed around the car and i had a long wrench in the boot to put them back on with.

They did two cars in the same car park a couple of weeks later.
They were apparently driving from commuter carpark to commuter carpark along the motor way, late on friday evenings, looking for cars that were likely to be undisturbed for 12-18 hours.

Oh, 99% someone trying to steal a wheel/wheels, or just being a dick.

I've always been told to re-torque after about 50-100 miles of a wheel being changed by a garage.

Happened to my wife’s car after a winter tyre change at Costco. My wife has zero mechanical sympathy so normally if something is wrong with the car the first I hear about it is if I take it out for a drive. However, even my wife couldn’t ignore this noise. It was pretty evident within a week.

I swap on off/winters for the last 20 years and you always need to check for tightness after 50 miles or so . I tihnk it's entirely possible that if it wasn't tightened properly it could be completely loose after 500miles and fall off.
But it would be unbelievably rubbish for a big lump of that as the wheel flops around on the hub! You , or the wife, really didn't notice?

But it would be unbelievably rubbish for a big lump of that as the wheel flops around on the hub! You , or the wife, really didn’t notice?

pretty much this.

Even if the mechanic hadn't quite nipped them up tightenough, driving for 500miles ignoring the car constantly trying to go two directions would rather place the driver as the main culprit.

I've driven off the drive with loose wheelnuts and it was utterly obvious within around 5meters of travel. These were spun tight and it was still plain as day.

If you or your wife genuinely didn't notice anything amiss as recent as the day before, it's definitley not related to the mechanic 500 miles ago. Someone's been tampering with your car. If not wheel-related theft, hopefully not one of those anti-SUV cretins that's been letting tyres down on 4x4s and SUVs recently.

I once forgot the final nip up of the wheel nuts after lowering the car to the ground when swapping wheels - blaming baby sleep deprivation! Knew all about it within 2 miles with the knocking from the front end.

I would say you are lucky. If a house clearance years ago of a guy who was killed by a wheel that came off a car. There is a lot of energy in a even slow rolling well and it will bounce up when it hits a curb etc. No one hurt = success.

I’m going with some scroaty **** having a puncture and trying to pinch yours instead. Do you live in scroatville?

100%. I think people underestimate what people will steal. I've been with people who will steal a bolt they need from a car.

Car is few years old top of range qashqai

Are anti-theft wheelnuts not a thing anymore?

Pretty sure the ones on my 12 year old bottom of the range Panda came factory fitted, or at least as a cheap optional extra.

When tightening wheel nuts you do them as much as you can with the wheel off the floor then lower it, and finish them off.

Coincidentally, someone was talking about this yesterday on facebook after a wheel fell off a merc sprinter.

Ive no idea how much, if any truth there is in it but their theorey was, if you really crank down on wheel studs, you can stretch the thread (i know that stretching bolts is a thing, and its factored into design in many situations), and the pitch of the thread ends up getting changed slightly, meaning you dont get the same friction for a given torque, or something.
Wheels falling off sprinters not uncommon (or so they reckoned) because the studs are inferior.

perhaps.

I’ve had a wheel come loose once (my own carelessness..)
The racket and wobbling steering within a few miles was not something I’d continue driving with…

Ditto.

You will never know why it happened OP.

Hope you and your wife are able to move on with your lives.

Was your wife wearing noise cancelling headphones and winter mittens?

To be fair to OP's wife, she was instructed not to worry about it!

Bad luck innit? Maybe someone tried to nick the wheel (Qashqais have wheels worth nicking?) or maybe it was the garage but you can't ever prove it and 500miles is a long time to claim it was their fault. Chalk it up to experience, move on with your life.

Oh, and apologise to your wife for causing this situation! I'm sure she's pretty unhappy about being told to drive on it...

Are anti-theft wheelnuts not a thing anymore?

They are, but usually only 1 of the 4 or 5 nuts per wheel will be anti-theft ones. However, often they're made of cheese/chocolate and round off or snap the locking key when you try to remove them. First thing I do with our vehicles is replace them with standard nuts. Even the aftermarket ones such as McGuard nuts are crap.

Oh, and apologise to your wife for causing this situation! I’m sure she’s pretty unhappy about being told to drive on it…

This reminds me of a call I witnessed from my sister in her Citroën AX to my brother in law.

"I'm on M1 South and a light's come on"

"What does it look like?"

"Erm, well, like a watering can?"

"What colour is it?"

"Red"

"Any other lights?"

"Yeah, there's one next to it saying STOP in big red letters."

"You need to pull over and stop."

"I'm only a mile from the junction and nearly home..."

"****ing STOP!"

"But..."

"STOP"

Etc...

Cylinder head that one. It'd been running funny for a week or two and she'd never mentioned it.

Clearly it was his fault.

I'm of the opinion that it's highly likely not your mechanics fault either. 500miles and as recent as the day before with no noises or sensation of loose nuts - they're not just going to randomly come that loose one day later. There will have been an external factor.. the potential of someone trying to nick them is strong I reckon. They'd have loosened them (maybe only the non-locking ones) whilst the car was on the ground still and possibly either gone off to find something to get the locking one off or got disturbed or something part way through the job.

*experience here of not doing the final nip once when the car was back on the ground. Only just over a mile when we very definitely realised there was a problem!

Something to watch for, but hopefully not true for a professional mechanic, is fitting wheel nuts the wrong way around. Yes, they look nice with a big chamfer facing out...
A lot of modern cars have bolts to reduce that possibility
Lorry drivers used to tighten wheel nuts up so that they audibly cracked, which they called "cracking up", using the largest scaffold pole that you can fit in their passenger footwell. DVSA responded with this document. P3-5 are useful to all motorists

They actually called it 'Careless Torque Costs Lives'

👏

However, often they’re made of cheese/chocolate and round off or snap the locking key when you try to remove them. First thing I do with our vehicles is replace them with standard nuts. Even the aftermarket ones such as McGuard nuts are crap.

Well - mine are 12 years old and haven't rounded off yet. Must be that quality Italian engineering 😉

Re locking nuts - I broke the key for the one on the Passat, and once the garage had removed it I bought a cheap set from Halfords. Clearly pretty crude, but whatever. I then lost that key, so I went and bought another set being prepared to take it to a garage again to remove it. But before I did, I took a look at the key and thought it didn't look like it was a particularly sophisticated set of pattern variations. So I tried the new key on the old bolts and guess what?

Your wheel fell off?

This happened to my dad a few years back.....1 week before he had his front brake pads changed
So for 5 days he was driving to work 20miles each way....and the wheel came of at a roundabout on the a217.
When the AA came to the rescue...they found the nuts on the other front wheel was loose also.
Apparently there was no proof the garage that changed the front pads had not tightened the nuts properly....even tho it's pretty obvious

I had a wheel refurb and when I went to pick up the car I got about 2miles down the road and stopped. Only 3 bolts were in place and one was finger tight. I went back to the refurb place and the new guy who was putting wheels back on was sacked. Apparently not the first mistake he had made. That’s a very expensive mistake for a small wheel refurb company. It was really obvious that something was wrong with the car.

I had a wheel come loosen off once, was very obvious from the noise long before it was ready to fall off.

But then not everyone takes any notice of noises / things falling off / warning lights. Absolutely sick of going to the car and finding it broken in some way only to be told "Oh yeah I meant to tell you about that it was making a funny noise".

Could have been worse. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-43331639

Definitely worth checking every now and then

Or more urgently, listen to your car and bloody well stop if it's making a terrible noise.

My wife got hit with a wheel which had come off another car, our car needed new bonnet, wing, headlight, bumper etc etc - nearly wrote our car off. This was witnessed by police who just happened to be driving past. It turned out that the other vehicle was being road tested by a local garage, and the road test included a few miles on a motorway. Luckily the wheel didnt come off on the motorway, could have been really nasty. Police detained the driver of the other vehicle.

I’ve had a rear wheel come off an MG Midget – we were working on the brakes, (front only) and neither my or my friend recall even trying the rear wheels, but we must have done.

But it came off, literally within 200 yards of driving off. And thats a low powered leightweight vehicle.

The torque spec for midget wheelnuts is 35ftlb, that's about the same as the cassette on your bike (and a lot less than how tight you'd probably normally do a cassette to without a torque wrench!). More than that and they stretch and you ruin the studs or wheel.

They're a liability.

Had something similar on my T5 a few years back.

This has happened to me twice over the years on surf trips in mates' vans (T5 abd T6), N coast Scotland and W coast Irelant so long drives and v unlikely to be anything to do with theft.

As others have said it's very obvious even to passengers that something's wrong, if not exactly what. In fact the second time on the ireland trip I said it might be a wheel loose. Weird.

Std procedure for most tyre fitting monkeys is hold air gun on each bolt till it stops going round x 5.
Grab torque wrench, click, click, click, click, click done.
No idea what the torque figure is, except thays its more than 90ft/lb.
Could be 150 or 170 ft/lb but ypu will never know, or be able to undo the wheel nuts with the factory supplied cheese metal spanner. Which all appear to be designed to twist off the nut rather than undo it.

As for the op, reckon someone's had a go at stealing a wheel. Ime they rattle within a few miles, maybe ad much as 30, then fall off very duickly once the banging starts, like within 2 or 3 miles.

Out of interest OP, did you find the wheel nuts on/near the roadside? Had they snapped? Is it worth having a look by the overnight location in case there’s any nuts there? Only wondering, as if someone tried to nick the wheel I imagine they’d either be on the floor by it’s parking place, or very close to it. I see plenty of wheel nuts at the side of the road that have just hit the kerb. Maybe worth a look.

Could be 150 or 170 ft/lb but ypu will never know, or be able to undo the wheel nuts with the factory supplied cheese metal spanner.

I have a wheel brace which looks like someones started trying to tie knots in it. "More than 200 Nm" is about the size of it. We ended up using a 1/2" impact driver which was rated at something ridiculous like 1000Nm i think... That got it off quickly enough!

How was the car parked the night before? If the wheel which came off was the one best hidden from view. You can guarantee someone was trying to steal it and got disturbed. Most likely to order given the circumstances.

I've known people who've gotten punctures and just driven around until they find the same car. Then stolen one of the wheels. What's a tyre on your car £200-250? If they've driven the car on a flat tyre that's the rim gone as well. So you're looking at a bill of somewhere around £500-600.

I'm not convinced by the theivery. I've known people drive around with only three nuts on, and the only thing they noticed was a noise when they accelerated. But it's hard to blame a garage and the driver really should pay a basic bit of attention.